How to Encourage Better Teamwork

Collaboration is essential to organizational success — and that means your team has to be able to work together effectively. But the truth is that fostering collaboration involves more than simply putting skilled employees together in a room to complete a task. And that’s where you, the manager, come in — it’s your job to create the conditions in which your team can bond together and find a synergy that drives their work to the next level.

Set clear goals for your team. A crucial step in encouraging better teamwork is making sure that your employees know what they’re working towards. To ensure clarity, break each objective down into smaller steps with a predetermined timeline.

Build a creative environment. As Nicole Fallon advises in her article “6 Tips for Getting Your Team to Work Together” for Business News Daily, it’s important to allow your team to exchange ideas in a non-judgmental setting that fosters sharing and brainstorming.

Ensure respectful communication. To work together effectively, your employees need to know they can count on each other’s respect. Set ground rules for communication, for example that everyone gets an opportunity to speak and that team members aren’t allowed to interrupt each other.

Create a shared experience with volunteer work. Sometimes it’s the things people do together outside of work that help create a bond in the office. It can be helpful to organize a day of volunteer work, when your employees are working together towards a shared — but non-work-related — goal.

Keep in mind that encouraging better teamwork is an ongoing endeavor. You need to continuously pay attention to your team’s dynamic and if necessary, guide your people back towards the right direction. By being proactive, you can help foster strong bonds between your team members that help boost their collective performance to the next level.